Christmas Nightmare (Bleach Fanfic)

Gathering Storm

Glancing at her bedroom window, Karin waited apprehensively for everyone to come home. She couldn't push away the feeling that bad news would come home. Her eyes drifted over to Yuzu and saw that her sister had already fallen asleep. Letting out a sigh, the dark haired twin stood up and moved to the doorway and headed downstairs.

"You shouldn't go outside looking for him." Isshin stated from over at the couch as he stared at the television.

The small female glanced at the door and walked over to her father and sat down next to him. "Toshiro's oto-san already told me that. I wasn't planning on going out either. I can't sleep though."

"The kids tough, I'm sure he will be fine." Isshin stated, still watching the television, despite the fact the show was in truth rather childish.

"I still have a bad feeling. You wouldn't understand because you can't see ghosts and stuff, but that isn't the only thing that sets me apart from other kids. I don't like these feelings I have." Karin glanced at the ground.

At that, Isshin turned his head towards his small daughter. "What exactly do you like about him?"

"You might say that Toshiro is the first person that I've known who is around my age who can also see ghosts." The small female pulled her knees to her chest. "He also happens to have the same feeling as Ichi-nii. Actually, it is more then a feeling, but I can't explain it to you because you can't see ghosts."

At that, the man let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes. "Are you talking about the fact that Toshiro and Ichigo both have shinigami abilities?"

At that, Karin blinked a couple of times, her eyes showing a great deal of disbelief. "You know what a shinigami is?"

"Yeah. I do." Isshin opened his eyes to look at the television, not really watching what was going on. "I think that you are going to find some things out about my past and you are going to honestly be mad at me for keeping them from you and your siblings."

"Are you telling me you used to be a shinigami?" The female preteen blinked a couple of times. Her father simply stared forward, not giving her an answer. "You were!" The black haired girl then stood up and pointed at the door. "If you have shinigami powers, why aren't you out there looking for Toshiro! What he did was stupid and he's putting himself in danger. You know very well that he is!"

"First off, I decided to be the person to stay behind in case Toshiro came back here. Second, my getting involved with looking for him might actually complicate the situation." Isshin took a deep breath, then turned off the television, standing up as he did so. "All of the ones looking for Toshiro should be back soon. I need to head upstairs so that a fire storm doesn't happen."

"Is Toshiro with them." Karin grabbed his sleeve, tugging on it.

At that, Isshin looked at her. Something in his eyes caused her to back down, as it was a look more serious then she had ever seen about him. However, she then glared at him, telling him that she expected an answer from him. "No. Toshiro isn't with them. Gin... you know him as Toshiro's father... something about his reiatsu is off."

"Is that bad?" The female persisted at the subject. "Ichi-nii never answers my questions. You're both hiding things, and that isn't fair."

"Ichimaru's rather strong." The man stated, watching the small female carefully. "You don't want me to leave, do you?"

"Are you... do you think you are strong enough to get Toshiro back?" At that point, Karin let go of his sleeve and turned away.

"Shiro-chan's a special friend to you?" Isshin let out a sigh and sat down, placing a hand on the top of her head. "I can't promise anything except that I'll do my best." He then gave her a smile. "If I stay, be prepared for finding out some stuff I think you would rather me tell you when I can sit down with you."